Hi everyone, im new at understanding computer and camera stuff.i was going to buy a black magic 4 k pocket camera nd a new computer (I have windows Vista 7) but I dont know what computer "package" I should look into buying that will work with the Black magic and its software?

Before I come with some suggesting, do I want to make sure you can't upgrade your current Windows PC to be used with Resolve.

Please tell us what CPU it have, the amount of RAM and what kind of Graphics Cards.If you need help, please tell us, and we will give you further instruction.

The current recommendation for 4K, is a PC with a CPU from AMD with ether the current Threadripper CPU or the next generation Threadripper CPU expected to August.

There have just been an another thread in this forum, where several of us gave some recommendations. There is even a PCPartPicker part list.But I don't know if you want to build a PC your self, or if you may be have a friend or family that can help you. But here is a link:

Before I come with some suggesting, do I want to make sure you can't upgrade your current Windows PC to be used with Resolve.

Please tell us what CPU it have, the amount of RAM and what kind of Graphics Cards.If you need help, please tell us, and we will give you further instruction.

The current recommendation for 4K, is a PC with a CPU from AMD with ether the current Threadripper CPU or the next generation Threadripper CPU expected to August.

There have just been an another thread in this forum, where several of us gave some recommendations. There is even a PCPartPicker part list.But I don't know if you want to build a PC your self, or if you may be have a friend or family that can help you. But here is a link:

Before I come with some suggesting, do I want to make sure you can't upgrade your current Windows PC to be used with Resolve.

Please tell us what CPU it have, the amount of RAM and what kind of Graphics Cards.If you need help, please tell us, and we will give you further instruction.

The current recommendation for 4K, is a PC with a CPU from AMD with ether the current Threadripper CPU or the next generation Threadripper CPU expected to August.

There have just been an another thread in this forum, where several of us gave some recommendations. There is even a PCPartPicker part list.But I don't know if you want to build a PC your self, or if you may be have a friend or family that can help you. But here is a link:

4K/UHD have 4 times the pixels of full HD and require 4 times the VRam and more CUDA/OpenCL cores on the Graphics Cards for editing and grading. For the moments do we recommend PC with the Threadripper CPU from AMD.

Many times can it be a good idea to ask a local computer shop to build a Windows 10 desktop computer for Resolve. We can help with the specification.But I don't know in which part of the world you are living. And if you are located in a big town with many computer shop or in a more remote area?

If you live in an area without without computer shops, can you may be order a desktop from a specialized company. I can mention a post from Marc Wielage from this forum, where he list some shops in the US. QUOTE: ' Three I know of in the U.S. are VFX Technologies in Culver City, CA, Puget Systems in Washington, and Colorscene near Atlanta.'

4K/UHD have 4 times the pixels of full HD and require 4 times the VRam and more CUDA/OpenCL cores on the Graphics Cards for editing and grading. For the moments do we recommend PC with the Threadripper CPU from AMD.

Many times can it be a good idea to ask a local computer shop to build a Windows 10 desktop computer for Resolve. We can help with the specification.But I don't know in which part of the world you are living. And if you are located in a big town with many computer shop or in a more remote area?

If you live in an area without without computer shops, can you may be order a desktop from a specialized company. I can mention a post from Marc Wielage from this forum, where he list some shops in the US. QUOTE: ' Three I know of in the U.S. are VFX Technologies in Culver City, CA, Puget Systems in Washington, and Colorscene near Atlanta.'

austindonald1 wrote: I live in the US, with Best Buy and Walmart being local

Hi.

There are two manufacturers of CPU's, AMD and Intel. Each having a mainline and a High End Desktop line of CPU's. For 4K in Resolve do we recommend a High End Desktop line CPU. But both walmart.com and bestbuy.com only sell computers with a mainline CPU's.

But AMD already show the next generation mainline CPU at CES in Las Vegas. It will be build on 7nm new technology together with PCIe ver 4.0. It will be both faster and cheaper to manufacture.But the 3rd generation AMD Ryzen will not arrive until mid 2019. Both walmart and best buy are selling the slow OLD 2nd generation Ryzen, so I expect if you want to wait to mid 2019, will you be able to buy one locally.

And other option will be to order one with the current AMD Threadripper CPU's from NewEgg. Here is a link with different possibilities:

austindonald1 wrote:im a little confused... is a 'Gaming PC' seperate from a desktop Windows 10 PC??

Should I be focused on a Gaming PC rather than a Windows 10 PC??

Hi Donald.

Yes, a Gaming PC is different from other desktop Windows 10 PCs.

Yes, You better look for a Gaming PC rather than a general Windows 10 PC.But not a plain Gaming PC. Resolve will run faster if you add a few extra components, as more RAM and 2-3 pcs. M.2 NVMe x4 SSD's.

In Resolve the CPU is used to run the app, disk I/O and compression and decompression of codecs.Resolve do not use the graphics card to play games, but does all its image processing in the CUDA cores on the graphics card. That is the reason that more CUDA Cores are better.

I think the best and cheapest way for you will be, if you can find a small local Computer shop or Computer Repair workshop that will build and test a PC for you, if you self buy and receive all the needed components. Then we can together make a list what you need to buy and where.This way we can both take advantages of nice offers and chose the the best components.

An alternative way will be to ask for an offer for a prebuild and tested Resolve build. But then you must expect the shop will make a profit on every components the sell you.

The reason that I suggest one of the above two possibilities is that on my previous NewEgg.com link I see two Gaming PCs with AMD Threadripper 1920X CPU's. It is a 1st generation CPU and the original price was 799$. But as it is a 1st generation CPU is the price now reduced to 420$. But I can'tsee the total cost to be reduced with 380$.

I also have an other comment to the prices in my previous post. AMD have both a Mainline and a High End Desktop line of CPU's. The Mainline of CPU's is called Ryzen and the High End Desktop line of CPU's is called Threadripper. The price difference between a a low end Threadripper and a Top Ryzen is only around 315$. So I will clearly recommend the Threadripper. Here is the calculation of this difference:

austindonald1 wrote:im a little confused... is a 'Gaming PC' seperate from a desktop Windows 10 PC??

Should I be focused on a Gaming PC rather than a Windows 10 PC??

Hi Donald.

Yes, a Gaming PC is different from other desktop Windows 10 PCs.

Yes, You better look for a Gaming PC rather than a general Windows 10 PC.But not a plain Gaming PC. Resolve will run faster if you add a few extra components, as more RAM and 2-3 pcs. M.2 NVMe x4 SSD's.

In Resolve the CPU is used to run the app, disk I/O and compression and decompression of codecs.Resolve do not use the graphics card to play games, but does all its image processing in the CUDA cores on the graphics card. That is the reason that more CUDA Cores are better.

I think the best and cheapest way for you will be, if you can find a small local Computer shop or Computer Repair workshop that will build and test a PC for you, if you self buy and receive all the needed components. Then we can together make a list what you need to buy and where.This way we can both take advantages of nice offers and chose the the best components.

An alternative way will be to ask for an offer for a prebuild and tested Resolve build. But then you must expect the shop will make a profit on every components the sell you.

The reason that I suggest one of the above two possibilities is that on my previous NewEgg.com link I see two Gaming PCs with AMD Threadripper 1920X CPU's. It is a 1st generation CPU and the original price was 799$. But as it is a 1st generation CPU is the price now reduced to 420$. But I can'tsee the total cost to be reduced with 380$.

I also have an other comment to the prices in my previous post. AMD have both a Mainline and a High End Desktop line of CPU's. The Mainline of CPU's is called Ryzen and the High End Desktop line of CPU's is called Threadripper. The price difference between a a low end Threadripper and a Top Ryzen is only around 315$. So I will clearly recommend the Threadripper. Here is the calculation of this difference:

austindonald1 wrote:im a little confused... is a 'Gaming PC' seperate from a desktop Windows 10 PC??

Should I be focused on a Gaming PC rather than a Windows 10 PC??

Hi Donald.

Yes, a Gaming PC is different from other desktop Windows 10 PCs.

Yes, You better look for a Gaming PC rather than a general Windows 10 PC.But not a plain Gaming PC. Resolve will run faster if you add a few extra components, as more RAM and 2-3 pcs. M.2 NVMe x4 SSD's.

In Resolve the CPU is used to run the app, disk I/O and compression and decompression of codecs.Resolve do not use the graphics card to play games, but does all its image processing in the CUDA cores on the graphics card. That is the reason that more CUDA Cores are better.

I think the best and cheapest way for you will be, if you can find a small local Computer shop or Computer Repair workshop that will build and test a PC for you, if you self buy and receive all the needed components. Then we can together make a list what you need to buy and where.This way we can both take advantages of nice offers and chose the the best components.

An alternative way will be to ask for an offer for a prebuild and tested Resolve build. But then you must expect the shop will make a profit on every components the sell you.

The reason that I suggest one of the above two possibilities is that on my previous NewEgg.com link I see two Gaming PCs with AMD Threadripper 1920X CPU's. It is a 1st generation CPU and the original price was 799$. But as it is a 1st generation CPU is the price now reduced to 420$. But I can'tsee the total cost to be reduced with 380$.

I also have an other comment to the prices in my previous post. AMD have both a Mainline and a High End Desktop line of CPU's. The Mainline of CPU's is called Ryzen and the High End Desktop line of CPU's is called Threadripper. The price difference between a a low end Threadripper and a Top Ryzen is only around 315$. So I will clearly recommend the Threadripper. Here is the calculation of this difference:

They Intel Core i7-8700K is only a 6 core 12 thread CPU. You will need a 8-12 core 16-24 threads CPU, and it is the previous model.16 GB Memory is very low. 32 GB is recommended. 120GB SSD is to low. You will need 1-2 SSD with a total of minimum 480 GB.GeForce GTX 1070 8GB will be possiable. But again is is an OLD Graphics Card.And Blackmagic Design recommend Windows 10 not HOME but a PRO version.

If you like a mainline CPU must I recommend you to wait until mid 2019 for the next generation Ryzen CPU. It will be manufactured on the cheaper 7nm process node and come with the new PCIe version 4.0 interface.

I need to tell you about PCIe lanes. It's wires going from the CPU out to different part of the motherboards. The Threadripper have 60 PCIe lanes. The current Ryzen have 20 PCIe lanes and the Intel i7-8700 only 16 PCIe lanes. The number of PCIe lanes will control how many other PC devices the system SIMULTANEOUS can handle. For the last 8 years all PCIe lanes use a speed of 8 gigatransfers per second (GT/s).

But from the new Ryzen next generation CPU will they change it from 8 to 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). So the next generation Ryzen CPU will still have 20 PCIe lanes. But will be able to handle almost the double amount of SIMULTANEOUS data.

So If you want to buy a Mainline CPU for Resolve, must I recommend you to wait until mid 2019.

They Intel Core i7-8700K is only a 6 core 12 thread CPU. You will need a 8-12 core 16-24 threads CPU, and it is the previous model.16 GB Memory is very low. 32 GB is recommended. 120GB SSD is to low. You will need 1-2 SSD with a total of minimum 480 GB.GeForce GTX 1070 8GB will be possiable. But again is is an OLD Graphics Card.And Blackmagic Design recommend Windows 10 not HOME but a PRO version.

If you like a mainline CPU must I recommend you to wait until mid 2019 for the next generation Ryzen CPU. It will be manufactured on the cheaper 7nm process node and come with the new PCIe version 4.0 interface.

I need to tell you about PCIe lanes. It's wires going from the CPU out to different part of the motherboards. The Threadripper have 60 PCIe lanes. The current Ryzen have 20 PCIe lanes and the Intel i7-8700 only 16 PCIe lanes. The number of PCIe lanes will control how many other PC devices the system SIMULTANEOUS can handle. For the last 8 years all PCIe lanes use a speed of 8 gigatransfers per second (GT/s).

But from the new Ryzen next generation CPU will they change it from 8 to 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). So the next generation Ryzen CPU will still have 20 PCIe lanes. But will be able to handle almost the double amount of SIMULTANEOUS data.

So If you want to buy a Mainline CPU for Resolve, must I recommend you to wait until mid 2019.

Regards Carsten.

Ok, Do I need to buy a computer that has, let's say, Windows 10 pro, then buy the additional parts, such as the CPU that you have listed, and then install them in place of what is already inside of the computer?i think i need to start a notebook containing the parts you listed, then put their meanings next to the words so i can have an easier time understanding the tech talk. id like to understand the meaning and function of each component so ill have an easier time relating to what you are explaining to me. I wish i had an easier time understanding but this is all sort of new to me.

im starting to slowly understand the computer and components needed.... exciting stuff. im wondering if i could locate a complete package (minus the monitor) for around 2000.00 Also wondering if it may be more affordable buying the shell or bare casing and then parts seperate...arrgghhh , so much learning and so many decisions...

Computer chips is produced on a big round slice of silicon called a wafer, that later are cut into smaller pieces, one for each chip. Until now the smallest sized chips was produced on what we call 12nm or 14nm process nodes. From mid 2019 will the new Ryzen 3rd generation be produced on what is called 7nm. This will give double the number of chips, that can be produced from a wafer of the same size. Giving a smaller cost of manufacture together with faster speeds.

With you budget will you need to wait for the new 3rd generation 7nm Ryzen to come in mid 2019.

An another expensive part inside the PC is the Graphics Card. For 4K work is at least one with 8 GB vRam recommended. It can be a nVidea or AMD graphics card. AMD is cheapest and we expect new 7 nm graphics cards later in 2019 call Navi. With you budget do I recommend you to wait for it, as it will give more performance for the dollar.

What you describe as a shell or bare casing, do others normally call a PC Cabinet.

I expect you will be able to order and receive the separate parts, but then you will need to find somebody who can build and test it for you. The easiest will be if you have a friend or family member that have tried it before. Do you know somebody that game and have build their own gaming PC?

If you don't, do suggest I you find a small company that will do it for you.

if you need to grade export HD then a very inexpensive machine will do the job, the expences only mount when mastering at 4k

if delivering in HD, on limited resources i'd sooner spend the resources on renting callibration system, find a good used PanaPlasma, a lut box, and find a decent / refurb'd z800 and drop in a decent /recent GPU (1070Ti works well for HD) and decklink mini output card, Contour shuttle and StreamDeck and walk away around 2k with a room that exports accurate masters in HD

but that's what it takes in the real world - the machine is a small part of the big equation, i'd look at the big picture of what your are delivering, and work backwards from there, not focus on a single part untill you have the end game budgeted, i would put a premium on accurate monitoring, far FAR more important to me that pretty much anything else

the callibration part is absoultly key, and that's a significant cost that you may be able to share with another boutique shop, camera rental house or other similar group as it's something you need access to a few hours a month to check you mon once callibrated and stable

Carsten Sellberg wrote:But I am sorry. I don't think it will be good for Resolve.

Here is my comments:

They Intel Core i7-8700K is only a 6 core 12 thread CPU. You will need a 8-12 core 16-24 threads CPU, and it is the previous model.16 GB Memory is very low. 32 GB is recommended. 120GB SSD is to low. You will need 1-2 SSD with a total of minimum 480 GB.GeForce GTX 1070 8GB will be possiable. But again is is an OLD Graphics Card.And Blackmagic Design recommend Windows 10 not HOME but a PRO version.

Umm... what?

That spec there is a perfectly acceptable launchpad for Resolve, and should suffice if the price is right for the buyer. The GPU is fine, those deep-end 10 models have long legs.

You can and should have Resolve generate optimized media to an SSD. Using opt.media will give your system more mileage, and will allow you to focus on the work.

That's a good entry level system. HD will run like a dream. You should get good playback on 4K, too.

austindonald1 wrote:Is there a book Black magic sells, an instruction manual explaining in detail each function or just the manual it comes with when you buy one?

Resolve Manual is free for download and is available along with download of the software. (See the support page). You can download the software, then print your own book. The only problem is, the book will be about 6000 pages. And new editions come too fast.

I also don't think Windows Pro is needed for a single user. Unless you need the ability to join a server domain, there is going to be no functional difference using Home or Pro for Resolve. Save yourself $99. My PCs are all Pro but strictly because I have to keep them encrypted. My editing PC has an Intel 4670 and editing 4K XAVC works fine for me if that helps dial in your budget. Don't buy a PC that doesn't have an SSD system drive these days but 128GB SSD is really marginal for caching stuff.

HaveBlue wrote:I also don't think Windows Pro is needed for a single user. Unless you need the ability to join a server domain, there is going to be no functional difference using Home or Pro for Resolve. Save yourself $99. My PCs are all Pro but strictly because I have to keep them encrypted. My editing PC has an Intel 4670 and editing 4K XAVC works fine for me if that helps dial in your budget. Don't buy a PC that doesn't have an SSD system drive these days but 128GB SSD is really marginal for caching stuff.

Hi.

The reason that I recommend Windows PRO is because Black Magic Design is recommend it for Resolve in the DaVinci Resolve 15 configuration guide. I didn't ask them which function they use to day in Windows that can be done with Windows Home?Or what function in Windows PRO they may be consider for future upgrades. But I don't understand that somebody can recommend against Black Magic designs recommendation to save $99.

I don't know what the frame rate is of your 4K XAVC. Can it be 24p?Donald is telling us that he is considering to buy a Black Magic 4 K Pocket Camera. It can record at up to 60 frames per second in 4K and up to 120 frames per second for windowed HD. I try to advice him accordingly. He will properly not need one SSD, but two SSD's.

My comment is directed at BMD not you. I understand that it is their recommendation. I also know the differences between Home and Pro.

Domain Join. Since Resolve can network projects in real time, this might be the only useful feature but I imagine it works without as most people won't have a domain controller.Bitlocker. How this would be required is impossible as they would have to impose it as a requirement since it is optional.RDP. Really? a dead standard anyway.Group Policy. Only useful for administration of windows.Hyper Visor enhancements. A PC can barely run one instance of Resolve as it is.

My only Xeon died years ago and I have pro on the rest anyway so I can't test the theory. It's good you brought up these points. Anyone working resolve or any machine in a professional business environment should consider Windows pro but you could save $99.

Also windows home PC's with uefi have support for device encryption on the system drive since windows 8.0

It is also possible to install gpedit on Windows home. This may allow deferring windows updates some weeks like in pro which avoids you bring the guinea pig for bad updates.

Carsten Sellberg wrote:There have just been an another thread in this forum, where several of us gave some recommendations. There is even a PCPartPicker part list.But I don't know if you want to build a PC your self, or if you may be have a friend or family that can help you. But here is a link:

As I see you case is it completely different from Donalds case. I don't see any advantages to handle both in the same thread. I will suggest you to make you own thread. Then can I later tell you my view on your strategy.

Hi,I learned quite a bit in your explanations...thanks. I am thinking of building a small video PC and saw you recommendation above. What do you think about the ASRock X399M Taichi Mainboard? This is the smaller version of you choice above. I want a small case, this is why. Any thoughts?Thanks.Fabian Frank

I've built a LOT of computers in the last 20 years. It's not too hard to do yourself if you take the time to study. These days there are plenty of how-to videos on YouTube.

The reason for my post is to say that I usually don't go with the latest CPU as they are usually very pricey. I tend to go one generation (or two) back. And the last few years I've been going with AMD manufacturer as they have gotten very good for the price compared to Intel.

For graphics usage spend the $ on RAM and Video Card. These days the NVidia "RTX" line of cards is great value.

I can generally build a $5000 (retail) computer for around $1500 to $2000.

VioletWolf wrote: The reason for my post is to say that I usually don't go with the latest CPU as they are usually very pricey. I tend to go one generation (or two) back.

Hi VioletWolf.

Donald wrote that he is 'going to buy a black magic 4 k pocket camera and a new computer'.

Both Intel and AMD have both a Main Line of CPU's and a TOP HEDT Line of CPU's. One of the main advantages of the HEDT line motherboards are the high number of PCI lanes. Until now can only Top HEDT systems be recommended for 4K work in Resolve. And Donald want a black magic 4 k pocket camera.

But from mid 2019 will AMD come with 12-16 cores CPU's in their cheaper Main Line. The 3rd generation Ryzen CPU's will be manufactured in the new 7nm process node, that both will be faster and cheaper to manufacturer. They will also come with PCIe 4.0, that will have double the bandwidth of the OLD PCIe 3.0 and therefore require fewer PCI lanes than the OLD PCIe 3.0 Interfaces.

I am sorry, but I can't see how the Previous generation Top HEDT line systems, can be cheaper than the coming 3rd generation Ryzen CPU of the Main line system with its cheap 7nm process node and PCIe ver. 4.0. From mid 2019 will Resolve system for 4K move from the Top HEDT line to the cheaper Main line systems.

You also write: ' These days the NVidia "RTX" line of cards is great value.' I don't agree, but I wonder how many many computer you have build for Gaming and how many computers you have build for working with Resolve in 4K?

VioletWolf wrote: The reason for my post is to say that I usually don't go with the latest CPU as they are usually very pricey. I tend to go one generation (or two) back.

Hi VioletWolf.

Donald wrote that he is 'going to buy a black magic 4 k pocket camera and a new computer'.

Yes indeed, the context of this thread is a beginner on a budget... My advice is good in that context.

Carsten Sellberg wrote:But from mid 2019 will AMD come with 12-16 cores CPU's in their cheaper Main Line. The 3rd generation Ryzen CPU's will be manufactured in the new 7nm process node, that both will be faster and cheaper to manufacturer.

This is good news Carsten I'll make sure to have a look for my own systems when they come out.

Carsten Sellberg wrote:You also write: ' These days the NVidia "RTX" line of cards is great value.' I don't agree, but I wonder how many many computer you have build for Gaming and how many computers you have build for working with Resolve in 4K?

Regards Carsten.

Well I'm not a gamer so high refresh rates etc. are not required in the systems that I build. But I've been building computers since the Commodore 64 in the 1980's, with decades of commercial use, so the number I have built are in the several dozens. (Lately several budget machines for 4k video editing). RTX kicks butt in all benchmarks "with comparably priced cards" even with Resolve. I run them and have been very surprised with the value. But don't take my word for it:https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/artic ... ance-1238/

But again the context of this thread is a beginner on a budget.. And not who's got more knowledge, or money

I'm not arguing at all, just sharing info, discussion is always good. And honestly the differences in performance is very minor with these cards these days. And price difference is like $50 or something. In our case we are usually running other software that benefit from CUDA so NVidia makes the most sense. (For now lol)

What I also see is the RTX 2080 Ti 11gb holding it's own against the Titan RTX 24gb.

And with the new drivers vs old, it's benching 862.3 down from 876 in overall color grading. A difference of approx 1.5%. Not something to lose sleep over. I'm sure that's going to change on the next driver iteration.

AMD cards are great. And if you don't need CUDA for other applications then why not. I use AMD CPU's so there's no bias here.

Back on Topic:

The thread is minimum requirements to run Resolve for 4k editing and a budget of $2k.

Another budget suggestion: Buy used parts, and build a usable computer for 4k video editing and grading for under $1k. I just built one for my daughter with used parts for around $650. 4k editing, & 1080 multi-cam editing, with no issues.

High powered Used Parts can be had cheaply these days with gamers dumping gear to upgrade every couple of months.